Embarassment
by stainedglassmasquerade
Summary: There are reasons the Doctor never took his companions to certain times and places. 195060s London is one of them and this is why. 10, RoseRead and Review!


_A/N: Alright, this is a far cry from my normal Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fanfiction but I've been bitten by the Doctor Who bug. What can I say? As always, read, review, make me happy! I write more when I'm happy! Enjoy._

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The Doctor suddenly remembered why he hadn't visited 1950s Earth too recently: last time he'd done exactly the same thing: run into the wrong police box. But this time he wasn't alone and that made it all the more embarrassing.

"Doctor?" Roses voice cut though the silence inside of the small structure.

"Hmm?" He muttered, acting as though it was completely normal to be standing so close to each other inside a normal Police Box.

"In case you haven't noticed," Rose began, rising up on her tip-toes, closer to him. "this isn't the TARDIS."

"Just a little stop off, gather our bearings, get out of the sun. UV rays and all; havoc on your skin: age spots, wrinkles, freckles, all those nasty things." He was saying, ticking off every excuse he could think of for this mishap.

Rose laughed at how utterly ridiculous he was being. Any normal person would admit that they'd made a mistake and move on, but not the Doctor. No, he'd twitter off on some tangent until she'd forgotten that they were not in fact in the TARDIS after all, it was his way. Only this time she didn't intend to let him talk himself out of this so easily.

"Yeah, of course. I can see where that'd be a problem for you, being 900 and all, age spots and wrinkles are a real threat, aren't they?" She teased, a sly grin curled the edge of her lips.

"Oi! I'll have you know that for all extensive purposes this skin is only a few years old. Younger than yours. Oh the power of regeneration." The Doctor beamed as he spoke, satisfied that he'd made Rose forget all about them running into a common Police Box rather than the TARDIS.

"You thought this was the TARDIS, didn't you?" She queried with a smug grin on her face. The Doctor appeared rattled, how had she seen through him?

"Well, umm…not for such. I mean, it looked like the TARDIS, could easily have been. I wasn't really paying attention to where I parked after all." He stammered, rambling on once again.

Rose was suddenly brought to a shocking realization, "Doctor, are you telling me you don't know where we left the TARDIS?"

"Ah, well, you see…" The Doctor's voice trailed off as he muttered something about lamp posts and street corners, "and I have no idea where we parked."

"Then how do you propose we go about finding it then? Just walk around London, checking every Police Box we come upon? Because I don't know about you but I would like to get these shoes off soon."

"I told you to wear unheeled shoes, but no, you had to be authentic. Never mind the fact that we may very well run all day, let's just put on the highest pair of heels you can find in the TARDIS wardrobe. And I don't want to hear you complain, because I warned you." He put a finger up between them, pointing at her and just barely brushing the tip of her nose.

"Well, if you'd remembered where you parked the TARDIS we wouldn't be having this conversation now would we?" Rose questioned defiantly, staring the Doctor right in the eye, unflinching.

He opened his mouth once, as if he was going to say something, then closed it. A slight grumble escaped his lips before he tried again. "It's not wise to argue with the designated driver Rose."

"What are you going to do, leave me here? Good luck, you'll have to find your ship first." She was now back into teasing mode, a moderately self-satisfied look on her face.

The Doctor grumbled to himself, seeing no point in continuing the argument. He was rifling though his pockets, trying to find something useful when Rose interrupted.

"Can you use the sonic screwdriver?" She asked, hopeful.

"For what purpose?" He looked up at her, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know, match frequencies or something. Just trying to help."

"Aha!" The Doctor exclaimed suddenly, extracting an object from his pocket that looked remarkably like the trigger button to a car alarm.

"What's that?" Rose asked, furrowing her brow as she tried to see the object in the poor light.

"Remote locator. All you do is press this button here," He pointed to the large button on the top, "and the TARDIS makes a sound, alerting you to her whereabouts." He smiled, proud of himself. "Come on." And with that he opened the door and stepped back out into the sunlight, Rose close behind.

Without a moments hesitation the Doctor pressed the button and something that sounded like an alarm clock cut though the air. From what she could tell, the TARDIS was somewhere nearby.

Quickly, the Doctor moved off in the direction of the sound, stuffing the remote back into his pocket. The alarm appeared to be coming from somewhere behind them, so the duo turned the corner, following the sound-and came face to face with the TARDIS.

There she sat on the street corner, looking just like any other Police Box. As soon as they neared the alarm shut off, leaving the street in semi-silence once again.

Rose looked at the Doctor, a grin working it's way onto her face. "So, this whole time she was right around the corner?"

"It would appear so, yes." The Doctor answered curtly.

"And you had me going on about looking for hours and hours?" She was beginning to laugh now.

"I suppose."

"And you had a remote locator in your pocket?"

"Yes?"

"Happened before, has it?" Rose burst into laughter at the thought of the Doctor having lost the TARDIS in the 1960s sometime prior to this experience. The image of him walking around London for days, entering every Police Box he saw and then walking right back out, was giving her a fit of giggles.

He unlocked the door and walked inside, trying to ignore Rose's laughter as she followed as quickly behind him as she could. When he reached the console he stopped and turned around to face her.

"Come on now, it's not that funny." He put in defensively.

"It is pretty…" She chuckled, holding her sides. "How many times did you have to loose the TARDIS before you made yourself a remote locator?"

The Doctor looked down and mumbled a number.

"What? I couldn't hear you."

"I said, 4 times." He looked back up, a little red-faced.

"Four times?" She repeated, suddenly silent and free of laughter.

"Yes, four times."

They locked eyes and stared at each other for a moment in silence before both broke out into uncontrollable laughter.


End file.
